Kuwait's Global to raise $1.24bn shares

Global Investment House, Kuwait's biggest investment bank by market value, said it will use funds from a share sale in May to finance acquisitions of asset managers and bank businesses in the Gulf.

Global, which is listed in Kuwait, Dubai, and Bahrain, is selling as many as 355 million shares to institutional investors at a minimum 930 fils each. That would raise about 330 million dinars ($1.24 billion; Dh4.56 billion).

Among other plans, Global will use the funds to "make selective acquisitions of asset management and/or commercial banking businesses where appropriate opportunities arise to enhance its distribution channels and product offering in the GCC region and other emerging markets," it said in a statement on Tuesday.

Investors will receive global depositary receipts (GDR) that will be tradeable on the London Stock Exchange, Global said.

The funds will also be used to finance organic growth in the Middle East and North Africa, and invest in some its funds, Global said. HSBC Holdings Plc is arranging the share sale.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) includes Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar.

Global Managing Director Maha al-Ghunaim (pictured above) told Reuters last month the company was looking to raise 279.8 million dinars through the sale of new shares to finance expansion in the Middle East, where economies are booming.

Global won shareholder approval last month to sell the equivalent of 35 per cent of its share capital at 930 fils per share. There are 1,000 fils in a dinar.

Global said on Tuesday the final share price will be determined by the orders it gets. The sale closes on May 15.

Global failed in February to become the biggest shareholder in Bank of Bahrain Kuwait (BBK) after losing out to Bahrain's Ithmaar Bank in an auction for a stake that would have boosted its holding to as much as 40 per cent.

Instead, it built up a 15.4 per cent holding.

That stake is worth about $228 million, according to Reuters calculations.

Global posted a 28 per cent increase in profit last year to 91.4 million dinars.

Its shares are up about 6.5 per cent so far this year, compared with a rise of about 17.6 per cent for Kuwait's main stock index. On the day, the shares closed up 1.05 per cent. (Reuters)

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